FUNDING
NEWS & CAMPAIGNS
Kick 'em when they're down Job-Ready Graduates Bill becomes law Despite the NTEU's best efforts, the Morrison Government’s Job-Ready Graduates legislation was passed in the Senate by the barest of margins – just one vote – on 8 October.
We also hope that the price that Senator Griff sold his vote for is worth it to a generation of students who will now be burdened with overwhelming debt...
This was after a frenetic few days of last-minute campaigning by members and supporters to win Centre Alliance’s vote, after independent Senators Jacqui Lambie and Rex Patrick publicly declared they would oppose the Bill. The campaigning included a giant mobile billboard calling on Centre Alliance (CA) to vote against the Bill, which was driven around CA MP Rebekha Sharkie’s electorate of Mayo over a long weekend, and a snap online action on 2 October where over 300 members, students and supporters around the country sent emails, social media posts and phoned the CA MPs’ offices.
Michael Evans National Organiser (Media & Engagement)
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CA Senator Stirling Griff, whose vote was the one that got the Bill over the line, announced a few days before the vote that he would support the Bill, saying that it would provide
Sentry
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november 2020
'funding certainty' to universities from next year, and end the funding freeze imposed by the Government in 2019.
'Certainty' means cuts But the only 'funding certainty' that Centre Alliance has delivered to Australia’s universities is an overall funding cut of $1 billion. It is especially disappointing that Centre Alliance has chosen to ignore the thousands of constituents who contacted them to oppose the Bill, something that we hope South Australian voters remember at the next federal election. We also hope that the price that Senator Griff sold his vote for is worth it to a generation of students who will now be burdened with overwhelming debt, or deterred from seeking a university education because of the cost. The legislation will strip $1 billion of funding from universities, more than double the cost of many courses and in particular arts and humanities courses, and make it more difficult
